FAQs: Provision of Contraceptives by PHOs

Q: Isn’t it better to put a person on the pill rather than risk that her sexual activity will eventually lead to an abortion?

A: By putting a woman on the pill or providing contraceptives, we are likely, in fact, to be exposing her to a future abortion, since we know that more than half (51%) of abortion patients in the United States reported that they had used a contraceptive method in the month they became pregnant. 

Many researchers conclude that the pill often acts as an abortifacient. “Breakthrough” ovulation can occur when a woman is on the pill, she may conceive, but the pill has thinned the lining of the uterus so that the tiny embryo cannot implant and so is aborted (clearly, the pill does not always contra-cept). So-called contraceptives such as the “the morning after pill” Plan B can also act as abortifacients depending on when they are taken during a woman’s cycle, and the Ella brand does act as an abortifacient.

Since the pill has a large failure rate – the CDC reports 7-13% – those on the pill will be encouraged by medical providers to switch to implants that have additional health risks, and even to IUDs which act as abortifacients.

With the pill’s high failure rate, it often leads to an abortion. The choice to use contraception is to prevent what the woman sees as the worst possible outcome of her sexual behavior – a pregnancy and a baby. Therefore, they may rationalize that they were being “responsible” by using the pill, and, since it failed, abortion is now the responsible choice to make.

Q: If a woman or girl is intending to go on the pill, and we care about her, isn’t it better for us to provide it to her rather than have her go to Planned Parenthood?

A: If we truly care about her, it is best to present her with only the healthiest life-affirming options for her physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

Putting an unmarried woman or girl on the pill says to her that we are doubtful that she can or will make the healthiest choice for her body, mind, and spirit – abstinence before marriage. She deserves positive, life-giving truth from you, messages that honor her value and affirm her whole person – emotional, social, intellectual, spiritual – not just sexual. It is only when she can express her personhood appropriately, in light of all these areas of her life, that she can become a whole, healthy, empowered woman. Sexual pleasure outside of a life-time commitment of faithful love can rob her of that and ultimately be unfulfilling, hurtful, and wounding.

Of course, the pill will not prevent her from getting an STI, or additional STIs if she already is infected. It does not prevent broken relationships and broken hearts. It will not prevent her from being emotionally or physically abused by her sexual partner(s) or predators. Artificial hormones in the pill have their own health risks and side effects (the pill is listed as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization).

Providing the pill to a woman or girl is no guarantee that she will stay away from Planned Parenthood. After she becomes “committed” to birth control, she may be more likely to end up at Planned Parenthood for an implant or IUD because they are longer-lasting, or even an abortion if and when her contraceptive does NOT contra-cept.

Q: If we are a medical clinic, shouldn’t we provide the widest possible range of medical services for women’s health and aim for the highest medical credibility and accreditation so we gain respect, have broader community support, and gain referrals from other medical providers?

A: The AMA and ACOG, the dominant medical associations in the USA that relate to our work do not support the work of PHOs. In fact, they have published articles and editorials in their medical journals that criticize PHO’s and call our protocols “junk science.” If we try to gain the respect of secular medical providers by modeling some of their programs, such as providing contraceptives, what will they expect us to do as a “next step” to remain in their fold? The medical community at large has an abortion bias. If we try to imitate them, we may ultimately compromise our most foundational principles.

Q: Aren’t we trying to compete with Planned Parenthood for the hearts and minds of women and the culture?

A: We can compete for the hearts, minds, and souls of women, and we must. But providing contraceptives in our centers is totally counterproductive to that noble goal.

To compete with Planned Parenthood does not mean that we provide some or all of the same services but without abortion. We compete, but not like McDonalds and Burger King (that provide very similar products). We are to Planned Parenthood like day is to night. Like the culture of life is to the culture of death. Like flowing water is to the desert. We transcend PP by providing a radically different, a wholistically healthy, a consistently life-affirming – a truly God-inspired – approach to each precious person and to women’s true reproductive health.

button official statement

 

Sources:

Additional Resources

More in this category: « Heartbeat International's Statement on Provision of Contraceptives by Pregnancy Help Organizations Kathy Barnette's Story »
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